Monthly Archives: August 2011

Your Coaching Service Needs YOU!

 in Guest Post  tagged balance / balanced meals / business coach / business coaching / charging / client / clients / coach / coaches / coaching / coaching courses / coaching qualifications / coaching skills / coaching techniques / coaching training / energy / executive coach / exercise / immune system / Indigo Turtle Coaching / leadership coaching / life coach / life coaches / life coaching / Marie Yates / mind and body / nlp coach / performance coaching / personal coach / personal development / posture / Self care / sleep / water

In today’s guest post performance coach Marie Yates addresses something that is relevant to coaches in all niches of coaching.

Your Coaching Service Needs YOU!

By Marie Yates

YOU are your coaching service! So while you’re looking after the marketing, the planning, the finances, the diary… Oh, and the clients… How are you looking after YOU?

You know that the synergy between the mind and body is paramount for true health and wellbeing so do you put this into practice? Do you conduct a large percentage of your business over the telephone? What would happen if you lost your voice?

  • By maintaining a healthy immune system you are much more likely to fight off common viruses. Make sure you are well rested, drink plenty of water and maintain a healthy, balanced diet. Also, managing your negative emotions and stress levels will prevent you from becoming run down and more susceptible to illnesses.

Do you spend a significant amount of time sitting down to work and driving to meet clients? What would happen if you needed to take an extended break from sitting down and/or driving due to back pain?

  • Monitor your posture and how you sit whilst conducting your coaching sessions, work on the computer or when you’re at your desk. The spine is designed for motion so if you find that you are sitting still for long periods of time, take a break and stretch your body. When you are sitting down avoid slouching or leaning forwards.
  • There are additional benefits to having a good posture… For example;

ο A good posture enables effective breathing – deep breathing acts as a stress reducer, releases endorphins (your own unique painkillers!) and focuses the mind!

ο Enhanced capacity for thinking – with correct breathing, there will be more oxygen getting to the brain, enabling it to do an effective job!

ο Improved self image – try slouching for thirty seconds and then sitting up straight, breathing deeply… Is there a difference in how you feel?

Do you feel your energy levels dropping throughout the day? What would happen if you were not giving your client 100% during their session or you a leading a workshop and the fatigue sets in? Eat well balanced meals throughout the day! Although you know that need to aim for your 5 fruit & vegetables a day – do you do this? Avoid the quick fix approach to energy levels that caffeine and sugar have to offer as what goes up, must come down!

  • Drink water and lots of it! Fill a 2 litre bottle with water every day and make it your aim to finish it!
  • Get plenty of sleep! Become more aware of your body and its natural rhythm. If you are an early bird – get up & start the day a little earlier to be your most productive self. If you are a night owl, stay up a little later and get the most out of your day!
  • Take regular exercise! The benefits of exercise are not a secret so incorporate it into your day… With all the exercise DVDs and computer based exercise regimes on offer you don’t even need to leave the house – although fresh air and a change of scenery is an added bonus!

Give yourself the BEST and look after yourself… Lead by example and make sure you have the energy in your mind and body to strive for your own goals!

About the Author/Further Resources

Marie Yates is a performance coach based in the Midlands and can be found at www.indigo-turtle-coaching.co.uk

Take control over what you feel

 in confidence / General life improvement

“Next in importance to having a good aim is to recognize when to pull the trigger.”
(David Letterman)

My sister works with children and when I spent some time with her this last weekend she had the remainders of a bumper pack of sweets they had used as an end of term treat. The majority of these sweets I didn’t even know they still made and had great recollections of them from my childhood.

Just one taste seemed to transport us back to a school disco, or the excitement of a birthday.

You may have noticed that specific smells can immediately have an effect on how you feel because of what you associate with them. Perhaps every time you smell a particular perfume or aftershave you grin because of who it reminds you of, or maybe it has the opposite effect.

Then off course you may have a particular piece of music – I found myself grinning the other day because of an old TV jingle was being played. There are the tunes that you feel great when you hear them because of what you associate with them. Maybe there are also songs that have the opposite effect if you connected them with an old unpleasant experience.

These associations or connections between a trigger and a feeling are often set up without any conscious deliberate thought. What I’m going to invite you to play with this week is a way to give you a deliberate way to set up a trigger so that you can use it to your benefit.

You can do this with any feeling you want though I suggest something positive that you can then use. Maybe you want to play with confidence and use it when speaking in public. Perhaps you’d like to pick relaxation and fire it off before a job interview. It’s up to you what you pick.

You’ll get most benefit from playing with this if you pick a time when you are not going to get disturbed. This will allow you to easily set up a lovely strong feeling without anything else getting in the way. Initially imagining a state of relaxation before you set up a trigger for example is much easier without 100 kids screaming, the phone ringing and the dog running around you 😉

1. Having picked the feeling you want to have at your beck and call, vividly imagine what that feeling is like. By all means close your eyes if that is easier, and remember a time or a place where you felt that strongly – notice what you saw, the colours, people, etc, become aware of what you heard, the noises, tones etc.

As that feeling intensifies make it a full sensory experience by noticing if there are any aromas, perhaps there are tastes to savour.

2. Take as long as you like to really get a strong and powerful sense of this feeling. When you have a full sense of that strong feeling squeeze together your thumb and little finger.

3. Repeat this process several times, remembering to get a really strong feeling before squeezing your thumb and finger together. (I’m sorry, you’ll just have to feel that good feeling again ;))

4. Squeeze your thumb and finger together on it’s own and notice how that good feeling automatically follows. You have created a trigger, or anchor for you to fire off when ever you want to.

Have a week full of great feelings

Love

Jen

This was originally posted on www.YourChangingDirection.com